aurora (of sunrises and igniting flames)
by theywillliveon
Summary: a collection based around the order of the phoenix & its members / I — alice & frank
1. Chapter 1

**I — the darkest side**

 **Summary:** Alice doesn't know how much more she can take.

 **Disclaimer:** No characters belong to me.

 **Written for:** _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments):_

365 Prompts: 125. (Event) Pregnancy

Assignment #1, Sex Ed, Task Two (write about someone getting pregnant)

Insane House Challenge: 58. (Pairing) Alice/Frank

Bath Bomb Appreciation - Azure Skies (set your story on a beautiful sunny day)

Fanfic Resolutions Challenge - Fic set in Marauder Era; Collection based around the Order of the Phoenix

Writing Club - Restriction of the Month - no characters older than 20 (prompt: word - smile)

 **Word Count:** 733

* * *

Her alarm is beeping.

Sighing, she rolls over and turns the damn thing _off_.

It takes her a while to actually get out of the bed — staring up at the ceiling, she wonders when her body will cave in, and simply refuse to keep functioning anymore.

It's a question she asks herself almost every day — _how much longer?_

 _(Until the war ends.)_

 _(Until the Ministry is overthrown.)_

 _(Until they win.)_

 _(Until they lose.)_

 _(Until she loses all shreds of the eager hope she once possessed, the freedom that she thought would be granted to them once outside the spiraling towers of Hogwarts.)_

 _(Until they give up.)_

 ** _Until it's too late._**

Faced with the brutal reality of the world around her, it's hard for Alice to see her happy ending.

She doesn't know how much more she can take.

They fight, but what Dumbledore neglects to see is that they're _just kids_.

Of course, they're considered to be adults by the rest of the Wizarding community — but there is still a certain shield they expect to continue to be put up around them.

Instead, they have to experience the masses of terror and confusion that are characteristics of all-out war — _that_ is their reality.

Barely nineteen, and yet expected to be able to cope with death — death after death after death after death after death until Alice feels like she's drowning in pure air.

War consumes her, consumes _them_ , and they keep _fighting_ , like there's a chance that any one of them will make it out alive.

She needs to see a therapist.

* * *

Alice skips breakfast. She finds herself doing this almost every morning now — unless Frank gives her a better reason not to. But he's hardly here now —

Mission, after mission, after mission. Alice doesn't understand why she isn't permitted to accompany him — after all, she's only a year behind in training, but she _knows,_ just like everyone else, that her abilities are level with many of the fully-trained Aurors.

Sighing, she stuffs her wand into a pocket in her robes, and leaves the apartment.

* * *

The sun is bright outside. It's almost ironic. With all that's been going on lately, Alice expects the weather to fully reciprocate her and the rest of the Order's mood.

* * *

She apparates into Auror headquarters, the picturesque blue sky, with a mass of cotton-candy clouds, floating gently above her.

* * *

At work, much is the same —

Training, then

Eating, and then

More training.

It's nothing new.

And then it happens —

As she casts a defensive spell at a dummy, painted to resemble a Death Eater —

A sudden wave of nausea washes through her body, eliciting a gasp from Alice's mouth.

She stumbles slightly, and the dummy's own defense mechanisms kick in. Barely dodging a red flash of light, she hurtles to the side, simultaneously switching the dummy off and clutching her stomach.

But just as quickly as it came, the pain vanished altogether. Brushing it off as a lack of food, she continues to send spells flying across the room at her artificial enemy.

A minute later, however, it happens again — this time, Alice is sure she's going to be sick. Hurtling to the adjacent bathroom to the training hall, she frantically yanks her wand out, casting a quick revealing spell to find the source of her nausea.

And it's not —

It's not —

Possible?

Not what she expected, in any case.

Because it seems —

It seems like she has found solace at last, in a world cracked and torn by war.

Because the emptiness in her heart is filled almost instantly by the results of the spell.

They're going to have a baby.

* * *

Frank is elated, naturally. When he comes home, there is a joy that seizes them both simultaneously, and suddenly they're laughing, and crying, and wondering how the hell they're going to raise a child in the midst of possibly the most dangerous war the Wizarding community of England has seen in a long, long time.

Frank tells Alice it doesn't matter. He laughs again, tears leaking out the sides of his brilliantly blue eyes.

A smile appears on Alice's face, despite the unease nestled deep inside her.

 _A child_ , she thinks.

Maybe she'll get her perfect ending after all.

But outside, the war rages on, and they can't ignore it forever.


	2. Chapter 2

II — as day follows night

 **Disclaimer:** I own nothing

 **Written for:** HSWW, prompts at the bottom

 **Word Count:** 517

* * *

The dark trumps the light, and Lily's world is turned upside down.

It hangs over them —

A menacing cloud of incessant evil, a constant reminder of the demise that lies just out of arm's reach.

And she is fierce, and she _fights_.

But it becomes harder and harder every day, and her heart is numb, and her hands are worn, and the weariness reflected in her eyes is of an age far greater than her own.

Her body reacts to things instinctively now. Gone is her control over her body: she is a marionette, and the Order her puppeteer — they tell her to fight, and she fights; they tell her to sleep, and she rests; they tell her to breathe, and she inhales so deeply that she fears the world will be torn in two; they tell her to live, and she is _trying_ , goddammit.

But it's impossible for her to even _see_ the point of life anymore.

/

The first time she sees someone killed is during her third week of duty.

They are scouting out areas behind the houses of rumoured Death Eaters, their wands the only light in the otherwise pitch-black darkness.

The air is cool, the gentle breeze of the wind caressing her face, but there is something wrong. She can sense it, even though her eyes are still adjusting to her grainy surroundings.

And then it comes — the unmistakable flash of green light that burrows its way into Lily's corneas, until the only thing she can see is the imprint of the Auror's falling body. The image haunts her for days on end.

They come faster after that — as the weeks fly by, so do the number of casualties.

The fighting never stops.

But then she is left wondering, what are they even fighting _for_?

/

Marlene dies on the first day of spring, when flowers lining the worn pavements begin to bloom, and clouds soaring high in the sky resemble the fluffy dandelions that she used to blow into Lily's hair when in a particularly mischievous mood.

Lily can't breathe. She opens her mouth; inhales, exhales, inhales, exhales; there is air, but she can't breathe.

She can't she can't she can't she can't she can't —

James guides her to a chair, and she puts her head in her hands, shaking.

She is sure of one thing now, at least.

She fights for her best friend, for her memory, for the way Marlene's laughter filled the long halls of Hogwarts; for the way her ferocity always resulted in unnecessary duels with rival housemates; for the way she always, always put those she cared about first.

She fights for the hundreds of innocents killed in a war that they were never supposed to be a part of; a war that has ravaged an entire population for months on end.

She fights for what she believes in — a society in which worth is not based on wealth, or blood status; a society which is equal, and fair, and places value on those who _love_.

(She _fights_ for love.)

* * *

Prompts:

Assignment #11, Herbology, Task #1 — write about someone struggling with a change in their life

Fortnightly Challenges: Air Faerie

Writing Club:

\- Amber's Attic: 5. Last Sad Song

\- Em's Emporium: (pairings) 4. Write about the losses of war

Shay's Musical Challenge: 2. Hamilton — write about someone fighting for what they believe in

Gryffindor Challenge: (character) Lily Evans, (trait) courageous


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